Apart from McCartney, Bowie, Morrissey & Partridge, this list is mostly a buncha shit

The results of that Paste Magazine 100 Best Living Songwriters poll that I talked about a few months ago are out. As I said at the time, I have some issues with who they chose to define as "songwriters."

For example,

80 Pink Floyd

Now: Are they talking about Roger Waters? I presume they are, since I understand him to have written both words and music for most of the songs you think of when you think of Pink Floyd. So why not just say so?

Similarly, as pleased as I am to see--

57 Morrissey

--above Sting but below James Brown, I still think it was ludicrious to nominate him separately from Johnny Marr at all. And you're telling me I now live in a world in which

36 Beck

is ranked a better songwriter than

37 Smokey Robinson?

That ain't right. And of course:

12 The Rolling Stones

What I've said before still stands. The day anyone can name one song off the last Stones album by the time the next one comes out, is the day I'll believe there's a reason to give a ratfucking piss about them for anyone not in the baby boom generation.

2 Neil Young

I look at Neil Young sort of the way I look at Michael Moore or Al Gore. Even though I know he's almost legendary to many, and there is reason for me to respect him, I think he's more about self-promotion than his fanbase suspects and I trust him less far than I could throw him.

Finally,

1 BOB DYLAN

See The Rolling Stones and double it.